A roast leg of lamb is the perfect family meal for Sunday dinner. There are a variety of recipes for roasting a leg of lamb but one of the French recipes that I use the most is a simple method that results in a delicious and tasty roast lamb dinner. Its simplicity brings out the wonderful flavour of the lamb and it never fails to please everyone. When buying your leg of lamb you may wonder what size you will need. This will depend on how many people you are going to have for your meal. A 6 pound (2.70kg) leg of lamb will feed about 8 - 10 people so you can judge by this what weight you will need for your meal. For a smaller number of people you will need a smaller joint of meat. Your butcher will even sell you half a leg if it is just for 2 people, so ask him for what you need. You can either leave the bones in or remove them yourself which is quite easy but a good butcher will do this for you if you ask him. Before cooking your lamb, dry it well with paper towels as this will help it to brown well when cooking. Brush your leg of lamb with melted butter or a mix of butter and oil. There is no need to add any more fat as lamb is a very fatty meat and will have enough fat of its' own to produce a very tasty roast. Preset your oven to 450F (230C/Gas 8) so that you start the lamb cooking in a very hot oven. This is to start it browning by turning and basting it for the first fifteen minutes. The oven is then lowered to 350F (180C/Gas 4) to continue the cooking. There is no need to continue basting. Cook for about an hour. You can cook it longer if you want it cooked more. To test if your leg of lamb is cooked to your liking, simply stick a fork into it and if the juices are red it is cooked rare. If they are a paler rose colour it is medium rare. When the lamb is cooked to your liking remove it from the oven and let it rest for half an hour. This makes it much easier to carve. |
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